On-Air Discussion: Candidate Christie and the Common Core Standards

studio mic The statement continues to resonate from the campaign trail: Gov. Chris Christie, a contender for the Republican presidential nomination, “ended” the Common Core State Standards in New Jersey.

Actually, it’s a lot more complicated than that, and NJ Spotlight education reporter John Mooney joined WHYY/Newswork’s Dave Heller to talk about the governor’s pronouncements, what actually happened in New Jersey, and what it means for the state’s public schools.

The story is hardly finished. The recommendations from a state task force appointed by Christie to revise the standards have just been released.

But of the 200-plus recommendations, most are more about the wording of the standards than their meaning, and as Mooney points out, the biggest impact Christie may have had was in renaming the Common Core, as opposed to rewriting it.